Because we lose the future is all we have left
by Jens the Homo
Summary: He believes he'll be fine because he's strong and unstoppable, he can beat any obstacle without so much as a broken nail. He's wrong.


**Warnings:** Character death and OOC'ness. As for the pairings, there's KagaKuro and maybe a bit of AoKise.

* * *

People have always told him that there are turning points in life. Supposedly these turning points are caused by varying events. Events that make you re-evaluate everything. Events that make you stop and think about where your life is going and what you're going to do with it. They always say that losing someone close to you, in one way or another, is often a very important turning point.

To Aomine, that doesn't make sense. Why does it have to be something bad? Can't something happy, like winning an important basketball game or falling in love, also be a turning point?

And anyways he doesn't really believe that a single thing could change his whole life. Even if some kind of miracle happened and affected him profoundly, he thinks he'd get over it pretty fast. After all, life goes on and you have to keep moving forward no matter what happens, be it good or bad.

The death of someone he holds dear would hurt, of course, but he's still young so there's no need to worry about that. If Aomine himself were to die young, he wouldn't anyone stopping because of that. Everyone he knows deserves to have a long life with no regrets. That everyone includes Aomine himself (but if he should die young then that'd just be bad luck).

So he tells himself that he'll make it through anything, good and bad. He tells himself that he won't stop to think at the turning points of his life – at least not for too long. He'll be fine because he's strong and unstoppable, he can beat any obstacle without so much as a broken nail.

He's wrong.

* * *

Aomine feels like someone just punched him in the gut, made all his intestines fall out of his body and then threw him to the street to find his way home or wherever it is he's going. Even his thoughts feel broken and unfinished.

He can't quite wrap his mind around what he'd just heard.

_I need to talk to someone. Maybe Tetsu… yeah, I think Tetsu's the best choice. _

Aomine's feet are unsteady but he manages not to fall down as he makes his way to the metro station. He knows where Kuroko lives, and it doesn't even take long to get there, but right now the five-minute ride feels like an eternity.

* * *

The doorbell rings. Kise jumps to his feet. "I can get that!" he exclaims happily as he makes his way to the entrance.

Kagami sighs. "He's way too energetic for his own good. By the way, Kuroko, are you expecting someone?"

Kuroko shakes his head and frowns a little. "I was hoping to spend the evening alone with you, Kagami-kun, but since Kise-kun came here uninvited and there's another unexpected guest at the door right now, I guess that won't be happening."

"Kurokocchi! It's Aominecchi!" Kise's voice can be heard from the entrance.

Kuroko's frown deepens. "Aomine-kun never comes over without letting me know beforehand. I wonder if something's wrong."

"It'd better be something serious for bothering our evening together. I might forgive him if he came to tell that some mutual acquaintance of yours is dead."

Kuroko regards Kagami with an expressionless stare. "That's not funny, Kagami-kun. If something like that indeed has happened, then it's a serious matter."

* * *

Kise notices that something's wrong when Aomine doesn't take off his coat or shoes. In fact he doesn't move at all, he just stands there leaning his back against the door.

"What's wrong, Aominecchi?" No reaction.

"Hey, did something happen? If you want to talk about it, I can listen. Or… maybe you'd rather talk to Kurokocchi since you came here and not my place? Just come in, Kurokocchi's in the living room with Kagamicchi."

Suddenly, Aomine moves. He kicks off his shoes and throws his arms around Kise. The blonde lets out a small, startled yelp and almost loses his balance.

"W-what is it? Seriously, tell me, Aominecchi…"

Aomine shakes his head and clings to Kise. "I talked to her just a few days ago and I told her-"

Aomine stops talking mid-sentence and Kise realises with a start that the other man's crying. He's just about to demand for an explanation again when Aomine continues talking.

"She said she thought her boyfriend might be thinking of proposing to her and I told her that if they ended up starting a family, their babies better not become pink haired freaks with a Tetsu-obsession like their mother…"

Aomine tears are running down Kise's shoulder. The blonde is frozen. He thinks he already knows what has happened but somehow he also knows that Aomine needs to talk. So instead of offering comforting words he opts to wrap his arms around the crying man, gently but firmly.

"…she got a bit mad at me for saying that…" Aomine hiccups and tightens his grip around Kise's back. It's starting to hurt a little but Kise keeps quiet. "Then she said that if I ever had children they'd better not become tanned basketball freaks like me…"

Aomine shakes his head. "It was such a stupid conversation! Why the hell did I waste my time on something like that?! I want to tell her that she's really dear to me, that I'll always love her as a friend… or maybe as a sister, even if-" hiccup "-we don't share blood…!"

* * *

"They're taking an awfully long time, aren't they?"

"Maybe they're making out?" Kagami suggests with a grin.

Kuroko frowns. "They're not like that, Kagami-kun."

"Like what? You mean they're not like us?" Kagami leans closer to his boyfriend and smiles.

Kuroko lets out a small sigh. "That's exactly what I mean. And anyway, it wouldn't even make sense that Aomine-kun came here if he wanted to make out with Kise-kun. If they were together, I bet they'd do it somewhere else, like Aomine-kun's house."

Kagami pulls away from Kuroko and nods slowly. "Yeah, I guess. But then… if he came here to see you, why is he stuck with Kise at the entrance?"

"I don't know, but I'll go see what's wrong." With that, Kuroko disappears from the living room.

* * *

Whatever Kuroko was expecting to see at the entrance, it certainly wasn't a crying Aomine clinging onto Kise who's most likely crying too, if the way his shoulders are trembling is any indication.

"Kise-kun, Aomine-kun, what's wrong?" On some other occasion, Kuroko might take pictures of the two men to blackmail them with at a later point, but he senses now isn't the time for something like that.

Kise turns his head to reveal trails of tears running down his cheeks. He opens his mouth but no sound comes out. He clears his throat and tries again. After a few attempts, he manages to get his voice working enough to be able to say one sentence.

"Kurokocchi… Momoicchi's dead…"

Kuroko freezes. Because really, how are you supposed to react to something like that?

* * *

**A/N: **So uh… someone I know died recently and I just felt like I needed to get that out of my system somehow. And thus this fic was born. (and that's also why it's not very good)

Another inspiration was a song called Because by Yoko Kanno & Aoi Teshima. (That's where I got the title from.) Do check it out, it's gorgeous.

The KagaKuro part just kind of happened… I don't even like them that much (I prefer AkaKuro). Oops. Well, maybe next time I'll try to write some AkaKuro instead. :'D

As always reviews are appreciated!


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